Reanimal Review

To my knowledge, we don’t currently have a label for the sub-genre that sees you embody a small child trapped in a huge, frightening world filled with monstrous figures and personified trauma. I’m open to suggestions. Whether we can whack a name on it or not, Tarsier Studios is the benchmark for this corner of the gaming world, having created the Little Nightmares series and developed the first two games. With Little Nightmares now beyond its reach thanks to intellectual property situations, Tarsier has stepped back into the Megalophobia genre (I’ll work on that) with its latest title, Reanimal.

While Reanimal shares many of the ingredients with Little Nightmares, it’s quite a different meal. We still follow two out-of-their-depth children in a haunting world of giants, but theirs is a far more horrific and daunting tale, complete with darker and more intense imagery and themes.

The two playable orphans are siblings, lost in a seemingly endless ocean as they attempt to find their lost friends. Making use of a rickety boat, the two follow the dim lights atop buoys to find the shore, though they may wish they hadn’t if they knew what awaited them. Enormous, imposing cliffs eventually peek through the thick fog, shale raining down into the water like autumn leaves. The two children carefully direct the boat through the narrow passage that leads to an abandoned factory at the edge of the water. Landing ashore, the two step onto the small beach devoid of life, save for the forgotten suitcases scattered across the sand that paint a grim picture of those who last walked the coastline and why.

Maybe we should reconsider taking the train

It’s evident from the opening moments that Reanimal’s brand of horror leverages tone and tension to evoke an ever-present sense of unease. This dreamlike world is draped in darkness and fog, letting your imagination fill in the many shadowy gaps in the derelict buildings, forests, trenches, and institutions you’ll explore. The incredible sound design and score elevate your discomfort further, with creaking floorboards, distant whispers, and foreboding stringed instruments soundtracking your every step.

Moving through each of Reanimal’s monster closest environments is a simple puzzle-platformer affair. As the brother or sister, you’ll move, interact, and occasionally swing a weapon at an enemy if it gets too close. While a few obstacles required a moment of thought, it’s more often the case that the key you need is nearby, or the way across a gap is accessible to one sibling before the other, but puzzle complexity isn’t what most will be looking for here. The sheer act of trying to progress while you feel eyes on you from the dark is the real appeal.

While you’re able to work through Reanimal’s five-to-six-hour story alone, using a relatively competent AI companion, the entire game is playable in either local or online co-op. Not only is it possible, but it’s also recommended. Outside of puzzles and platforming, there are several excellent set pieces that require input from both siblings. Whether it’s desperately driving away from an ice cream vendor whose skin doesn’t quite fit or setting off sea mines as you bob through a flooded city in your wooden boat, these moments of required cooperation are far more impactful when you’re playing with another. Some faster-paced scenarios are heart-pumping enough for me to see Reanimal as Split Fiction for the macabre, only for a heinous visual to bring me back to reality.

The Redline is always behind schedule

On more than one occasion you’ll need to avoid a creature or character that…doesn’t have your best intentions at heart. Hiding is often the only option, and successfully stealing yourself away makes for a wonderfully tense moment, often followed by a thrilling chase. That said, not all monsters’ vision is created equal, as detection was, at times, quite inconsistent. Load times and checkpoints meant that a death was only a fleeting distraction, but not knowing if you’re concealed to the proper extent can be hard to understand.

And you’ll want to make sure you’re concealed. Little Nightmares was horror adjacent, without a doubt, but Reanimal decided that near enough wasn’t good enough. Everything from character design to level concept leans far further into horror than the studio’s previous works. The ambiguous nature of the game’s storytelling means that I can’t say much without potentially spoiling the experience, but the inclusion of themes like animal abuse, childhood trauma, and repressed turmoil run rampant, and it can be quite confronting at times.

Not the “low hanging fruit” I was hoping for

Being a story about both siblings, it stands to reason that they should stick together. Drift too far away from your partner, and the screen will fade, eventually resulting in death. Sharing a point of view doesn’t just incentivise cooperation; it also allows for clever use of the camera. The way perspective is manipulated and utilised is masterful, adding a cinematic quality to the experience that both heightens the horror and ratchets up the tension. Moving from one room to another facilitates a hard cut, while transitioning between major areas may see the camera climb through a crack in the wall. It helps make the world feel connected, while maintaining that uncomfortable feeling that you’re always being watched.

Final Thoughts

Reanimal may come from the same flock as Little Nightmares, but in many ways it’s a different beast. The simple puzzle platforming won’t ask too much from you and your co-op partner, but it doesn’t need to when there’s such a strong focus on tone. Confronting themes and well-implemented spooky visuals help to create a mesmerising and horrific world that you’ll be equal parts happy to see the back of and devastated to leave behind.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

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